Bipolar disorder is NOT cool

Here's something I found that really spoke to me and I wish people understood this.

Bipolar disorder seems to be becoming the mental illness of choice in the UK (I think it's been that for a long time in the US). The word depression no longer cuts it for emphasising mental turmoil, and as so many celebrities are said to have, we all want it!!

It has also become popular to self diagnose bipolar disorder. The fact is, if you were suffering from untreated bipolar disorder you would NEED to get medical intervention and thus a diagnosis as it would be destroying you, your life, and that of those around you.

Some points about the reality of bipolar disorder:

- You suffer from it your whole life. There is NO getting better. You may manage some stability, but you will ALWAYS need treatment, and you will always need medication.
- The medication itself can cause more problems; weight gain, hair loss, the list goes on.

If you are on Lithium you will need blood tests for every three months for the time you are on it (most likely the rest of your life), to make sure the level doesn't become toxic which can cause comas, brain damage and death. Lithium is not the only drug that has to be monitored in this way. It is, however, one of the best, so if you are diagnosed as bipolar you are extremely likely to at least try it.

You cannot drink (I know that if I did that I would become extremely unwell). I cannot have anything with caffeine or any type of sedative in because it affects me so badly. this means I can't take anything when I have a cold or the flu, cannot eat dark chocolate or chocolate with a high cocoa percentage, and cannot drink coke. As I can't drink alcohol either this makes trips to the pub pretty boring for me.

There seems to be no medications that are safe to take during pregnancy without risk to the baby, so along with all the mood swings you get normally with pregnancy, you have no medication to control the bipolar disorder. I fully expect to have to be hospitalized when I have a baby one day, and if i don't I will consider myself extremely lucky. Getting pregnant is a lottery for bipolar women, and I have to say that in part it terrifies me.

- If you have children there is a chance they will inherit bipolar disorder from you. You will have to see them go through the pain you have gone through, and know that it is because of you.

- Bipolar disorder destroys lives. That is not an exaggeration. People lose their jobs, drop out of education, often unable to return no matter how high their intelligence (believe me, I've tried), so if they are able to work they will often be unable to reach their full potential because they simply do not have the qualifications. Bipolar disorder rips apart relationships. Some one with bipolar disorder can be difficult, sometimes impossible to be around, how ever much you love them. Mania can cause huge amounts of debt through spending sprees.

There is a statistic that says 1 in 5 sufferers of bipolar disorder will die through suicide. Most importantly, bipolar disorder kills.

- Being on a psychiatric ward is not glamorous, believe me. it is above all boring, and at times soul destroying. Whatever your age you are reduced to a school like timetable with nothing to do in between. You are literally locked in with special electronic doors. As I said, it is not glamorous.

- Mania is not fun, it is terrifying. I am lucky to have only suffered from a full blown manic episode once or twice, and it was terrifying, like a living nightmare. Every last noise was unbearably loud, and I had no way to escape. I heard voices and could not sleep because of the npoise in my head.

- Bipolar disorder is not all dizzying highs and unbearable lows. A lot of bipolar disorder is a mundane struggle to get through each day. One of the things I associate with bipolar disorder is staying in my pyjamas for a week, unable to wash or get dressed, and keeping myself going on junk food. You will sweaty and greasy and disgusting, and probably stink. That's not cool.

I anyone has anything to add it would be more than welcome. If anyone you know ever wishes to have bipolar disorder because it would be 'cool' (yes, there are people who are that stupid), then direct them here. And if anyone has anything to add (I'm sure there's plenty), please do

Thanks for reading this.

Peace and love

 

I don't have anything to add but I agree completely. One woman I know who used to work with my mum hardly ever went in to work, so she would make any excuse she could to get out of it. She somehow persuaded the doctors that she was bi-polar and she was signed off for 1 month because of it. Anyone who knew her could tell she was lying.

What pisses me off are these people who feel a little bit down and exaggerate to their GP's about how bad their life is. Same with these people who do it to be cool. Thanks to these A-holes people who have REAL mental health issues end up either bieng given the wrong diagnosis or are not taken seriously by their doctors. I'm not blaming the doctors, I'm blaming the timewasters.

Only problem is it's so difficult to tell the truth from the lies where mental health is concerned. So I guess things will never change

 

ya i have bipolar also it makes life really ruff, everyday is a struggle to get through the day and people just dont understand. they cant relate becouse they just dont know what its like. school has always been a struggle i was always getting kicked out had horrable grades, its a struggle to keep a job ive walked out on 4 and im only 19. i feel constintly unsatisfied unless its something extream, small stuff doesnt thrill me. im rapid cycling so i constintly change between depressed,hypo manic,and manic. i dont take meds becouse i think they kill my creativity and mess me up in otherways. but the thing is im not stupid im actully extreamly intellegent in some ways like i think of inventions in my head all the time, musicly im verry gifted also instruments come extreammy easy to me i get very good very fast, origional songs pop into my head all day long, i can sit down on any instrument and make a great song in like 10 miniuts or less. my family hates me they constintly tell me i ruin their lives but they dont get is im very loving and compasionat i will help any one and i really care about alot of thing other people dont even worry about. i sometimes feel like im sorounded by idiots most of the time. its like alot of people just bore me. its like im gifted but cursed at the same time. giffted by having a vary high intellegance,and with music and abstract thinking, also im a very passionate person with me its eather 110% or not at all. but cursed by struggling every day,mood swings and feeling alone like no one can relate to me and not being satisfied with the NORM ever

 

Virginia Woolf was one famous person suffering from bipolar disorder. It was said that she could write like that 'thanks' to bipolar. But things were not that easy or comfortable for her. Yes, she was very creative, but she suffered from hallucinations and delusions... she had a very bad childhood... and she ended up by committing suicide. All aspects should be indeed considered. It is not cool to be bipolar when you actually are.

 

In our small town I know of 3 women who are bipolar. One is controlled with meds and does very well. One is older and stays home most of the time. The other is in her early 40's.
Thats the sad one, she wont take meds even after seeing several doctors. When she's on the down side she cant get out of bed or function. On the other end she's so manic shes chasing cars up the street.
Its a real shame, shes a good hearted woman, but her illness runs her life.
...............................................Alaskan..................

 

For some reason I feel the need to make you aware that your next post will be your post #666.

 

I sympathize with you, but for a sake of fairness, I have to point out that not everyone has the same symptoms as you. The fact of the matter is that bipolar disorder isn't an exact condition. The line between bipolar and just highly emotional can always be debated and shifted.

For instance, you mention how horrible your manic phases are, but you say it like everyone has those kind of manic phases. Mania differs patient to patient. Sometimes, even in cases of bipolar where it is EXTREMELY severe, it can be hard to get a bipolar patient to take medications as they know doing so will destroy those "highs".

On another note about the problems with work and school. These things aren't natural, so to say having problems with those is a "disorder" makes no sense. And I know you are trying to say its a result not a symptom, I'm just stating that since some people will treat those as proof of a disorder.

And I'm sorry about your problems with the illness. This post was not an attempt to discredit what you said, you are right; bipolar disorder can destroy lives. I just wanted to enforce the fact that bipolar differs person to person.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

Thanks for making me aware of this, thanks for me and Beelzebub....Alaskan&Beelz

 

Nature Child: Your wise beyond your years.
I was working in a in-patient psych unit at a county hospital in the mid to late 80's.
We were using the old DSM-3 for diagnosis outlines. This was the first DSM to outline Bi-polar disorder. I thought it was just someone trying to get his or her name in the records for some great name changing of manic- depression.
Then I started noticing more women ( sorry gals the majority of bi-polars are women)
were different in the cycle rates of manic-depression cases.
Manic-depression swings can take several days to weeks, as where bi-polar cycles can be a manner of minutes.
Nature girl as you said keeping them on medication and take away their highs is a hard one.............Alaskan

 

I'm not quite sure who you are responding to, but if you mean me, the first post is not my own words. As I said, I found it and felt that it summarized how bipolar disorder can affect people. I didn't mean for it to be seen as "everyone" has these symptoms. It is from the perspective of the writer and how she or he is affected. I am not affected in the exact same ways as the writer describes and I wasn't trying to tell people that everyone suffers the same way. However, if you hadn't dealt w/ it before, this is a good summary of why it can be hell, especially if people close to you do not understand.

I had a professor tell me that he was having a bad couple days when I told him that I was having bad mood swings. I respect him, but I also felt as though he was somewhat discrediting my experience. He may have been feeling low, but was he unable to get out of bed or cried all day (for several days)? Was he hospitalized from suicidal thinking that he couldn't control (didn't happen to me this time, but did last fall)? Yes, people can feel low, but it's not to the extreme that bipolar patients experience.

Peace and love

 

BTW, I would give up every high if it meant I wouldn't deal w/ the lows. If I wanted to feel that manic high, I would buy coke instead. But I don't want to feel high, I just want to feel normal and functioning as well as everyone else. This means medications and it's a sacrifice I am more than willing to make.

Peace and love

 

Once I realized bipolar is actually a disease that exists in the english language I began to be able to control myself.
I know no die-hard fan of western psychological belief will be able to accept that and most will hate me for saying this because it requires you to take conscious willed responsibility for your brain. But consider that words and beliefs are literally synaptic connections and chemical compositions in your being. There is not some section of your brain which has a little pocket of words floating around inside it. Words are LITERALLY synapses, beliefs are LITERALLY synapses. What this means is that 'psychological problems' are caused by the synapses of your brain being wired up incorrectly because of the words and beliefs you use. If you work on changing your underlying systems of comprehension, underlying systems of how you perceive your being to function, you do literally wire your brain up differently and change chemical composition. And bipolar is a "disease" of the purely psychological realm, the purely synaptic and brain chemical realm, which means it is a disease existing in the words and metaphysical belief structures you currently use. You change your words, you change your metaphysical systems and you change your brain. It is entirely possible to cure yourself of any psychological disease even as far as schizophrenia, as long as your willing to let go of the metaphors which are tying your brain synapses up to result in that error. And I do speak from experience when I say, the metaphors that western psychology spouts out are nothing but shit. The cure for nearly every "psychological problem" is actually just forgetting western psychology and the 'western rational mind' exist. It is a failed meta programming, it is causing the disease. You don't have to believe me now, but when you get to your breaking point, try to leave for a little bit, get away from it all and just forget it exists.

 

right on rygoody.. right on. it only exists if you insist on it existing.

 

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!
everything that you just said So describes me.
at first i just thought i was a normal teenager who does this stuff because thats just how teenagers are.
then i had a a mania attack and flipped out on my mom.
she took me to the doctor and he told me that i was bipolar, but i was just like whatever, and kinda didnt believe him.so... is denial apart of it too ?
or am i just being stupid for not accepting that this is who i am ???

 

Bipolar disorder isn't just something I insist exists. The first manic episode I had was one of the most inspired times of my life. I truly believed that any "underlying depression" was 100% cured and I was a genius. I understood the "hidden" meaning of "The Matrix" and its universal "Truth" that no one else understood b/c I was just so much smarter than the rest of the world. Only I got it (I have no idea what I was thinking then!)

My next manic episode went beyond that first mania- I went over a week without sleeping and I still don't know what really happened during that time and what was a hallucination. The night before I got arrested, I saw a couple cops outside, which I think was real, but within a few minutes, I saw cop cars surrounding the house, officers walking around the house, looking in the windows. I heard their voices outside along w/ the people I was staying with and saw them in police cars. I was convinced that I was going to be framed for making meth and I was going to go to jail. A couple times I opened the door and no one was outside. As soon as I closed the door, they were back. When the owner came back, I told her what I saw and she had no idea what I was talking about. I had no idea what the fuck was going on.

Did this happen b/c I "insisted I am bipolar?" No, I didn't even know what bipolar disorder was. I know what happens when an episode hits and it is unlike anything most people can imagine. If you want to know what bipolar disorder is like, stay high on coke, crack, or meth for a week or more.

I Dunno, it's natural to deny bad news. Learn more about the disorder and know this isn't a death sentence. You may be coming to a point where things begin to make sense. I wish I would have known what was going on earlier. I feel I wasted 20 years of my life to this disorder- I have a lot of time to make up for!

Peace and love

 

haha.. wow.

and thanks.

 

yes I've never met someone with bipolar disorder who was glad to have it. I have bipolar 1 disorder and although I'm glad to have had some of those fantastic delusions of enlightenment from having my brain massaged and manipulated by aliens,
i'd gladly trade those experiences back for dependable emotions. Yes don't be fooled by the creative inspirations and skills some have from the disorder, there are too many terrible experiences as well. Your lucky to be sane.
peace to all and meds for peace!

 

I'm "lucky" enough to at least have bipolar II disorder but I agree totally.

Especially I worry about future children and the ethics of it. It really can hurt your relationships with people. Thats the hardest part for me.

I'm pretty sure the statistic btw is 75% of people survive bipolar, meaning 1 in 4 people die. According to a video i watching in a psychology class so... how reliable that is I don't know.

 

Yeah....bipolar sucks....and i get tired of hearing about celebreties -- like who cares....same thing with emo.....why do you WANT to be miserable and over dramatic......i cant help it and i lost the love of my life and my career because of it...and am just now starting to get back on my feet....good thing it happened around my 20th birthday instead of later in life though.
Who seriously wants to be up and down all the time. One minute I think that I am on top of the world and then I can hardly get out of bed - but the circumstances never changed.

 

Some people are always looking for attention.
Whatever they can say that would make them sound intresting and cool in a weird way.
Celeberties do this alot.
What pisses me off is the kids who are after attention and proclaim they're Bi polar too.
Having no clue to what it's like.
They hear of people like Kurt Kobian or Axl Rose who are said to have Bi polar illness and they think its cool.
Having Bi polar sucks,it's no fun.
And it has'nt transformed my life to something cool and amazing.
More like a nightmare I live with constantly.
I wish people could just be themselves.